CALPIN JONES 



1 



,j 



(Tphnsician, Soldier dud Freemason 

1775-1846 



BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS CAREER IN NORTH 
CAROLINA AND TENNESSEE 

BY 

Marshall DeLanceg Hayu;ood 32" 

HISTORIAN OF THE GRAND LODGE 
OF NORTH CAROLINA 



FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GRAND LODGE, A. D. 1919 



REFRINTilSSUED BY JAMES W. JONES 
BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE 




I 




MAJOR-GENERAL CALVIN JONES 
Grand Master of Masons, 1817-1820 



CALUIN JONES 

(Tphusicidn, Soldier ancl Freemdson 



1 



1775-1846 



BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS CAREER IN NORTH 
CAROLINA AND TENNESSEE 

BY 

Marshall DeLancey Raijipood 32" 

HISTORIAN OF THE GRAND LODGE 
OF NORTH CAROLINA 



FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GRAND LODGE, A. D. 1919 



REPRINT ISSUED BY JAMES W. JONES 
BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE 




PRESS OF OXFORD ORPHANAGE 







Gift 

Aufciior 



CALVIN JONES, 

Physician, Soldier and Freemason 

By Marshall DeLancey Haywood 

Major-General Calvin Jones, an oflicer of North 
Carolina troojjs throughout the Second War with (;reat 
Britain, a physician and scientist of marked ability, 
and Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of North 
Carolina, was born at Great Barrinj^ton, Massachusetts, 
on the 2d day of April. 1775. His birthplace was in the 
Berkshire Hills. His father was Ebenezer Jones, a sol- 
dier in the Army of the Revolution, and the maiden name 
of his mother was Susannah Blackmore. The family's 
earliest progenitor in America was Thomas Ap Jones, a 
Welchman, who settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 
1651. From him, Ebenezer Jones was fourth in de- 
scent. 

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Of the early life of Calvin Jones we know little. We 
get a slight glimpse of the surroundings of his infancy 
in a letter to him from his father's sister, Mrs. Mary Col- 
lins, who says: "I came to your father's house to stay 
with your mother while your father and Uncle Joseph 
went to fight for their dear country. You were then 16 
months old." A letter from his father declares: "Your 
mother and I made slaves of ourselves that our children 
might have education." We are unable to ascertain in 
what institutions Calvin Jones received his education, 
but that he was possessed of a varied store of knowledge 
in state-craft, medicine, surgery, science, history, botany, 
and polite literature, there is ample proof. The study of 
medicine he began in boyhood, and he made such wonder- 
ful progress in that science that he was able to stand an 
examination on the subject at the early age of seventeen. 
A certificate, or medical license, now owned by his de- 
scendants, reads as follows : 

These may certify that Calvin Jones, on ye 19th of June, 
1792, offered himself as a candidate for examination in the Heal- 
ing Art before the United Medical Society. He was like- 
wise examined and approved of by the said Society as being well 
skilled in the Theory of the Physical Art, and by 'them is recom- 
mended to the Publick, as per Order of James Batten, president. 

DOCT. DAVID DOTY, Secretary. 



We have never been able to learn where this United 
Medical Society was located. Before leaving New Eng- 
land, Dr. Jones practiced his profession with marked 
success, as we learn from general letters of recommenda- 
tion and introduction from physicians with whom he had 
been associated before removing to North Carolina. 

LEGISLATIVE, MEDICAL, AND JOURNALISTIC CAREER 

It was about the year 1795 that Dr. Jones settled in 
North Carolina, locating at Smithfield, in Johnston 
County. He soon gained the esteem and confidence of the 
general public in his new home, likewise attaining high 
rank among the most progressive and enlightened medi- 
cal men of North Carolina. 

In the course of time. Dr. Jones was called into public 
life by the voters of Johnston County, being twice 
elected a member of the North Carolina House of Com- 
mons, serving in the sessions of 1799 and 1802. He was 
an active, useful, and influential member of these bodies. 
His speech (November 20, 1802,) against the proposed 
appropriation to establish a penitentiary, in the nature 
of a mild reformatory, was an argument of great force 
which was reported in short-hand by Joseph Gales, edi- 
tor of the Raleigh Register, for the use of his paper (see 
issue of December 14th), and it was later re-published in 
a small pamphlet. In this speech. Dr. Jones said: 

"The plan of lessening the frequency of crimes, by reforming 
instead of punishing criminals, has originated in principles that I 
revere; but sure I am the advocates of this measure are mistaken 
in the effects it is calculated to produce. * * * This extrava- 
gant project, in other States, has been more to accommodate vaga- 
bond wretches whom the jails of Europe have vomited upon our 
shores, than native citizens, and this strongly increases my objec- 
tion to the measure. In New York, I am assured from authority 
on which I can rely, that two-thirds of the criminals in the State 
prison are freed negi'oes and foreigners. The prudent policy of 
this State [North Carolina], in refusing to liberate any of its 
slaves, will relieve us fi'om one species of these pests of society, 
but we have no security against the other except in the rigor of 
our laws." 

Concerning emigrants from Europe to America, Dr. 
Jones added : "There are many of them who were an 
honor to their own country, and who are now an orna- 
ment to this. I object only to these vagrant wretches who 
have no trade or profession but thieving and sedition; 
whose schools of education have been jails and armies, 



and who transport themselves here to avoid a transporta- 
tion to Botany Bay, or to elude the pitiless noose of the 
hangman." 

The session of 1802 ended the services of Dr. Jones 
as a member of the House of Commons from Johnston 
County, but, after his removal to Raleigh, he was hon- 
ored with a seat in the same body as a representative 
from the county of Wake, as will be mentioned later on. 

So far as is known. Dr. Jones was the first physician 
in North Carolina to discard the old treatment by inocu- 
lation as a preventive of small-pox, and to substitute 
therefor the new process of inoculation now known as 
vaccination. So up-to-date was Dr. Jones that he was 
extensively practicing this treatment before the experi- 
ments of its discoverer (Dr. Jenner) were completed in 
England. In 1800, while still living in Smithfield. Dr. 
Jones announced through the newspapers that he would 
begin a general practice of vaccination — or inoculation 
as it was still called — in the Spring of the following year. 
Later he decided to postpone such action until he could 
get the benefit of reports of more recent experiments 
elsewhere ; and he published in the Raleigh Register, of 
April 14, 1801, a card in the course of which he said: 

"The public have been taught to expect, from my advertise- 
ments of last year, that I shall, in the ensuing month, commence 
inoculation for the Smallpox; but I am prevented from doing this 
by the consideration of what is due fi'om me to those who would 
have been my patients, whose ease and safety my own inclinations 
and the honor of my profession bind me to consult." 

In this card. Dr. Jones further said of Dr. Jenner's 
discovery that eminent practitioners in England, Scot- 
land, Austria, and France were using the treatment 
with success, while Dr. Mitchell, of New York, and Dr. 
Waterhouse, of New Hampshire, were among the Ameri- 
can physicians of note who had been engaged in the same 
work. 

In conjunction with a number of other well known 
physicians of the State. Dr. Jones was one of the organ- 
izers of the North Carolina Medical Society in the year 
1799. On the 16th of December, in that year, these gen- 
tlemen met in Raleigh and perfected an organization. 
Dr. Jones was elected Corresponding Secretary or "Secre- 
tary of Correspondence," and served in that capacity 
during the life of the society. This organization held 



meetings in Raleigh during the month of December in 
the years 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. The 
meeting in the year last named adjourned to reconvene at 
Chapel Hill, the seat of the University of North Carolina, 
on July 5, 1805. I can find no record of the Chapel Hill 
meeting, though it may have taken place ; nor can I find 
any notice of subsequent meetings. In the issue of the 
North Carolina Booklet, of January, 1917, is a brief ac- 
count which I wrote of this society. During its short- 
lived existence, many enlightening medical essays were 
read before it by its learned members, and much useful 
knowledge was thereby disseminated. Among other 
things, the society collected a botanical garden and 
natural history museum. Many years later. Dr. Jones, 
on the eve of his removal to Tennessee in 1832, turned 
over to the University of North Carolina a collection of 
this nature, which may have been the same. Alluding to 
this gift in his History of the University of North Caro- 
lina, Dr. Battle says : 

"About this time a prominent Trustee, of Wake County, about 
to remove to Tennessee, General Calvin Jones, presented to the 
University his 'Museum of artificial and natural curiosities.' 
Probably some of these are somewhere among the University col- 
lections, but it is doubtful if they can be identified." 

This collection contained a great variety and wide 
range of objects — from small botanical specimens to 
mastodon teeth and the bones of other prehistoric 
animals. 

Dr. Jones was not only an enlightened and accom- 
plished physician, but practiced surgery with notable 
success, many of his operations being of the most delicate 
nature — on the eye, ear, and other sensitive organs, 
which are now usually treated by specialists. He was 
also the author of a medical work entitled A Treatise on 
the Scarletina Anginosa, or what is Vulgarly Called the 
Scarlet Fever, or Canker-Rash, Replete with everything 
necessary to the Pathology and Practice, Deduced from 
Actual Experience and Observation, by Calvin Jones, 
Practitioner of Physic. This work was published at 
Catskill, New York, by the editors of the Catskill 
Packet, Mackay Croswell and Dr. Thomas O'Hara Cros- 
well, in 1794. 

Being a mutual friend of the parties concerned. Dr. 
Jones deeply deplored the political quarrel between the 



Plonorable John Stanly and Ex-Governor Richard Dobbs 
Spaight at New Bern, in the early fall of 1802. Together 
with other friends of those gentlemen, he earnestly 
sought to arrange their differences on a basis honorable 
to both. These commendable efforts were vain, however, 
and, when the code duello was resorted to. thinking his 
services as a surgeon might be of some avail, Dr. Jones 
was one of the party (not inconsiderable in number) 
which was on the ground when the hostile meeting took 
place, on September 5th. After several shots were ex- 
changed without effect, Stanly's fire brought down his 
antagonist, who was carried from the field in a dying 
condition and expired shortly thereafter. 

It was about 1803 that Dr. Jones left Smithfield and 
took up his residence in Raleigh. A few years later he 
was elected Mayor of the capital city — or "Intendent of 
Police," as the municipal chief magistrate was then 
called. Honors, too, came to him from the county of 
Wake, which he was elected to represent in the North 
Carolina House of Commons in 1807. His seat in that 
body was contested on the ground that (it was alleged) 
he did not own a one hundred acre freehold, as was then 
required of Commoners by the Constitution of the State; 
but the commiittee on privileges and elections, after hear- 
ing both sides, decided unanimously that ''the allegations 
set forth in said petition are unfounded." Dr. Jones con- 
sequently kept his seat, and was a useful member of this 
Legislature, serving as chairman of the committee to 
preserve and perpetuate the paper currency of the State, 
as chairman of the committee to investigate the laws re- 
lative to slaves charged with capital offenses, and was a 
member of the committee on militia. He mav have been 
a member of other committees in the same General As- 
sembly. In connection with the contested election of Dr. 
Jones, I may add that I do not know how much Wake 
County land he owned in 1807, but the court house rec- 
ords show that he acquired extensive tracts in this 
county at a later date. 

For a while Dr. Jones devoted some (though not all) 
of his time to journalism. In the Fall of 1808 he became 
associated with Thomas Henderson, Jr., in publishing 
and editing the Star, under the firm name Jones & Hen- 
derson, and later Thomas Henderson & Company. The 
files of the Star show the wide range of knowledge 



possessed by its editors in the various fields of science, 
art, history, and belles lettres, as well as in events (politi- 
cal and otherwise) then current. Henderson, like Dr. 
Jones, became an officer of North Carolina militia in the 
War of 1812-'15. On January 1, 1815, Dr. Jones dis- 
posed of his interest in the Star to Colonel Henderson, 
who thereupon conducted the business alone until Janu- 
ary, 1822, when he sold his paper and printing outfit, and 
went to Tennessee. 

While Dr. Jones, otherwise known as General Jones, 
and Colonel Henderson were associated in the ownership 
and editorial management of the Stai\ the latter had a 
narrow escape from death by drowning, being saved by 
the heroism of Jacob Johnson, father of President An- 
drew Johnson. Captain William Peace, of Raleigh, an 
eye-witness of this occurrence, recounted it in writing 
half a century later to Ex-Governor Swain, who repeats 
it in an address on Jacob Johnson, delivered when a head- 
stone was placed over his grave, June 4, 1867. Captain 
Peace said : 

"At a large fishing party at Hunter's Mill Pond on Walnut 
Creek, near Raleigh, upwards of fifty years ago, the late Colonel 
Henderson proposed for amusement a little skim in the canoe on 
the pond. He, a young Scotch merchant named Callum, and my- 
self, entered the canoe. Henderson was helmsman and knew that 
neither Callum nor myself could swim. He soon began to rock the 
canoe, so as at times to dip water, and just above the pier-head of 
the pond, bore so heavily on the end where he was sitting as to 
tilt and turn it over, throwing all three into the pond. Callum 
caught hold of me. I begged him to let go, as I could not swim. 
He did so, and seized Henderson, and both sank to the bottom in 
ten feet of water. I struggled and kept myself above water until 
they came to my assistance from the shore and carried me out. A 
cry was then made for Henderson and Callum. Jacob Johnson 
was standing on the pier-head. Without a moment's hesitation he 
leaped into the pond, dived in the dii'ection of where he saw them 
sink, caught hold of Henderson and brought him up. In an in- 
stant a dozen swimmers were in the water from the shore to as- 
sist in bringing Henderson out, and Callum with him, who was 
clinging to the skirt of Henderson's coat underneath, and at the 
moment invisible." 

Commenting upon the event just described in the ac- 
count by Captain Peace, Governor Swain said : 

"Fortunately for the sufferers, the late General Calvin Jones, 
Henderson's partner, was on shore. He was an eminent and able 
physician and surgeon, and the most efficacious means for the re- 
lief of the apparently drowned men were promptly applied. Hen- 



dcrson was soon able to speak, but life was, to ordinary observers, 
extinct in Cailuni, who was lonpfr under the water. After an 
anxious interval of painful suspense, he exhibited sifjns of life, 
was restored, and lived to marry and rear a family. * * ♦ 
Henderson suffered from the effects of the adventure durinR more 
than a year; and Johnson, though he survived for a longer period, 
passed away eventually, a martyr to humanity." 

Like nearly all other editors of his day, Colonel Hen- 
derson operated a book and stationary business in connec- 
tion with his newspaper office, and Dr. Jones also owned 
an interest in that establishment. 

In the early part of the nineteenth century, the 
American Colonization Society was organized by some of 
the foremost men of the United States for the purpose of 
thinning: out the free nejrro population of the country by 
deporting to Liberia such members of the race as were 
willincf to undertake the establishment of a republic of 
their own. The gradual emancipation of the slaves was 
also an event these gentlemen had in view. On June 12, 
1819, the Reverend William Meade, of Virginia, later 
Bishop, came to Raleigh and formed a local branch or- 
ganization. Ceneral Jones was much interested in the 
movement, and was elected a member of the Board of 
Managers of the branch then formed. Among the offi- 
cers were : President. Governor John Branch ; and vice 
presidents, Colonel William Polk. Chief Justice John 
Louis Taylor. Judge Leonard Henderson (later Chief 
Justice), and Archibald Henderson. This movement, as 
is well known, was eventually a failure, owing to the vio- 
lent hostility it encountered from the more radical aboli- 
tionists of the North. 

After successfully devoting himself to the medical 
profession for many years, and attaining a high reputa- 
tion therein (as already shown). Dr. Jones finally aban- 
doned active practice in order to devote himself to the 
management of his agricultural interests. 

MILITARY CAREER 

Interest in military matters was a life-long character- 
istic of Dr. Jones. Almost immediately after his arrival 
in North Carolina, and before he removed to Raleigh, he 
was an officer of a regiment in Johnston County. Among 
the papers left by him is an autograph letter from Presi- 
dent John Adams, dated Philadelphia, July 5, 1798, ad- 
dressed to "The Officers of the Johnston Regiment of 



9 



Militia in the State of North Carolina," and thanking 
them for their regiment's patriotic tender of services in 
the event of a war with France, then imminent, but 
which was happily averted. In the course of this letter 
the President bitterly declared : "Our commerce is plun- 
dered, our citizens treated with the vilest indignities, our 
Nation itself insulted in the persons of its ambassadors 
and supreme magistrates, and all this because we are be- 
lieved to be a divided people." 

In 1807 began the mutterings which a few years later 
culminated in the second War with Great Britain. On 
June 22d, the British man-of-war Leopard, in enforcing 
the alleged right of search through American ships for 
real or supposed deserters from the Royal Navy, met 
with resistance from the American frigate Chesapeake, 
which it attacked and captured, killing and wounding 
many of the crew, at a time when the two countries were 
supposed to be at peace. In consequence of this outrage, 
all America was aflame, and mass meetings were held in 
the more important North Carolina towns to protest 
against this insult to the Nation. As early as 1806, Con- 
gress had passed an act authorizing the President, in 
cases of emergency, to call out the State militia to the 
number of 100,000. Acting on this authority, President 
Jefl'erson ordered the militia of all the States to "take 
effectual measures to organize, arm, and equip, according 
to law, and hold itself ready to march at a moment's 
warning." The quota required of North Carolina was 
7,003, including artillery, cavalry, and infantry. The 
city of Raleigh and its vicinity were not backward at this 
juncture. Among the volunteer companies which offered 
their services was the Wake Troop of Cavalry, organized 
and commanded by Captain Calvin Jones. It held a 
meeting on July 4th and passed a patriotic and spirited 
set of resolutions, saying in part : "The spirit of the pa- 
triots who eternalized the day we are now assembled to 
celebrate, our principals, our feelings, and the conviction 
of duty, require that we offer to the President of the 
United States our services to protect the rights and 
avenge the wrongs of the Nation." This day in 1807, 
like all recurring anniversaries of American Indepen- 
dence, was celebrated with great pomp and ceremony by 
our ancestors assembled on the capitol grounds in 
Raleigh, "Captain Jones's Troop of Cavalry" and "Cap- 



10 



tain Peace's Company of Infantry" conatituting the mili- 
tary feature. The Governor, State ofllcers, the Judiciary, 
members of the bar, and a large concourse of citizens in 
general were in attendance. Among the toasts offered 
were the following: 

"The memory of Washington: may the services which he ren- 
dered to his country be forever engraven on the hearts of Ameri- 
cans." 

"The Government of the Union: may it always prove our 
sheet-anchor against domestic treason and foreign aggression." 

"The State Governments: free, sovereign, and independent." 

"The memory of the Seamen who lately fell a sacrifice to 
British outrage: may the atrocity of this act produce the adop- 
tion of such measures as shall secure us from future violence, and 
establish our maritime rights on a firm foundation." 

"Good Neighborhood: may no religious or political difference 
of opinion interrupt the harmony of society; however men may 
vary in sentiment, may they all agree to be kindly disposed to each 
other as Brethi-cn of the same great family." 

Artillery was not lacking on this occasion, and a 
salute "in honor of the Union" — one round for each 
State — was fired, after which the company "partook of a 
plentiful and elegant dinner," a part of this being the 
above mentioned toasts. The old Raleigh Register, 
which gives us an account of these ceremonies, concludes 
the program by saying : "In the evening a ball was given 
to the ladies, which was kept up with equal spirit and 
decorum till near twelve, when Propriety, the best guar- 
dian of public amusements, moved an adjournment, which 
was immediately adopted." 

War with Great Britain being averted in 1807, the 
services of the cavalry company commanded by Captain 
Jones were not needed then, but he continued his labors 
in training this troop and brought it up to so high a state 
of discipline that his talents were recognized by his being 
promoted to succeed Adjutant-General Edward Pasteur, 
when that gentleman resigned on June 7, 1808. That his 
capability was fully recognized is evidenced by the fact 
that he was re-elected by succeeding General Assemblies 
as long as he would hold the commission, serving under 
Governors Benjamin Williams, David Stone, Benja- 
min Smith, and William Hawkins. It was dur- 
ing the administration of the last named that 
that War of 1812-'15 came on. Soon after the begin- 



11 



ning of that conflict, Adjutant-General Jones, seeking 
more active service, sent in his resignation on January 
23, 1813, and accepted a commission (dated December 
14, 1812) as Major-General in command of the Seventh 
North Carolina Division of Militia, his jurisdiction ex- 
tending over the forces of eight counties. Under him 
were Brigadier-General Jeremiah Slade, commanding 
the Fifth Brigade, being the forces of Martin, Edge- 
combe, Halifax, and Northampton counties ; and Briga- 
dier-General John H. Hawkins, commanding the Seven- 
teenth Brigade, being the forces of Wake, Franklin, Y/ar- 
ren, and Nash counties. In the Summer of 1813 the Brit- 
ish forces made an extensive naval and military demon- 
stration against the South Atlantic States, and it was 
thought that Virginia would be the first place attacked. 
Thereupon the Macedonian cry. Come ove?^ and help us, 
was sounded across the border by the Richmond En- 
quirer, which said : "If our brethren of North Carolina 
be exempted by the nature of their coast from maritime 
aggressions, will they not share with us the danger?" 
General Jones was not slow to heed this call, and began 
raising a corps of mounted volunteers with which to 
march to the assistance of our sister State. Announcing 
this purpose, the Raleigh Register, of July 9th, said edi- 
torially : 

"We have pleasure in mentioning that General Calvin Jones, 
of this city, is about to raise a Corps of Mounted Volunteers, in- 
stantly to march to the assistance of the Virginians against the 
attacks of the British. * * * -pj^g citizens of the several 
counties are requested to meet at their Court Houses on Monday, 
the 19th instant, and such as are disposed to join this Patriotic 
Corps are to sign a writing to the effect. By the 25th it is ex- 
pected the corps will be ready to march. The members are to 
equip themselves. A part are to be armed with rifles — the rest 
with muskets, the latter to be furnished by His Excellency the 
Governor." 

In the Star, a Raleigh paper published on the same 
date, appears a stirring and patriotic address issued 
by General Jones, setting forth the details of his pro- 
posed expedition. In part he said : 

"I propose to I'aise a corps of Mounted Volunteers for a three 
months' service, to march immediately to the shores of the Chesa- 
peake. The design has the favor and approbation of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief. All who burn with the ardor of patriotism, or 
feel a passion for military fame, are now invited to rally around 
the standard of their country. * * * 



12 



' It IS required that each volunteer be stronfr, healthy, and 
capable of enduring fatigue; that he be respectable for his char- 
acter and manners — one whose sense of honor and love of fame 
v/ill supply the absence or defect of rigid discipline; that he be 
temperate in the use of strong liquors, and able to incur the ex- 
penses of equipments, travelling and other contingencies. Each 
must be well mounted on a strong, active horse, of about five feet 
or upwards in height. 

"The uniforms will be round jackets (double-breasted) and 
pantaloons of cotton homespun, dark blue and white, mixed; 
round black hats, with blue cockades; suwarrow boots* and spurs'. 
Each will be armed with a broad-sword or sabre, or, for want 
thereof, a cut-and-thrust sword, slung over the shoulder by a white 
belt three inches wide, and a pair of pistols. As many as have 
rifles and are expert in their use, will be armed with them. The 
others will be furnished with muskets by the public. 

"Each volunteer will be provided with a valise, blanket, over- 
coat or cloak, with such body garments to be worn under his uni- 
form as he shall choose. Care will be taken that all the equip- 
ments are in good condition. Where it is proposed to take ser- 
vants, there will be such an arrangement made among the volun- 
teers of each county so that the corps will be incumbered with as 
few as possible. 

"The officers will be selected by the Commander-in-Chief after 
the corps shall have been mustered at its rendezvous. The com- 
mandant will have the right of dismissing from the service any 
man who shall drink intoxicating liquors to excess, or be guilty of 
any other ungentlemanly conduct. 

"North Cai-olinians! an appeal is now made to your patriotism, 
your bravery, and your love of honorable fame. The character of 
your State depends on the success of this appeal. Arise, gallant 
spirits, and do justice to yourselves, and to the expectations of 
your country." 

Editorially commentinp: upon this address by General 
Jones, the Star said: "From the spirit manifested in 
this place when the intention was first announced, we 
feel confident that, with proper exertions, a corps may be 
readily raised that will do credit to the State. Some of 
our first characters have already offered themselves." 
Upon being advised by General Jones of the enterprise 
he had in view. Governor Barbour, of Virginia, was not 
slow in conveying the thanks of his State, and wrote 
(July 5, 1813) saying: 

"I should do great injustice to our feelings were I to withhold 
an expression of our grateful acknowledgments of your affection- 
ate and magnanimous conduct. Nor do the emotions it inspires 
flow altogether from selfish considerations. We see, in the part 
you are acting, that spirit which bound us together as a band of 

*A military boot taking its name from Field Marshal Suwarrow. of Rus- 
•i». M. DeL. H. 

13 



brothers during the Revolution and carried us in triumph through 
that glorious conflict, and which, can it be kept alive, will give, 
under Providence, immortality to our confederated republic — the 
last hope of man." 

Before General Jones could finish mustering in his 
corps of volunteers to aid Virginia, there was need of his 
services nearer home, for the enemy unexpectedly landed 
on the coast of North Carolina at Ocracoke Inlet and the 
small hamlet of Portsmouth, at the inlet's mouth, also 
threatening the more important towns of Beaufort and 
New Bern. The Star, of Friday, July 23d, made an- 
nouncement of this startling fact as follows : 

"The news of the invasion reached this city on Saturday about 
eleven o'clock. On Sunday, General Calvin Jones, with his aides- 
de-camp, Junius Sneed and George Badger, and with Captain 
Clark's company of Raleigh Guards, consisting of fifty men, took 
the road for Newbern. On Monday morning, His Excellency Gov- 
ernor Hawkins, with Colonel Beverly Daniel, one of his aides. 
General Robert Williams and Major Thomas Henderson, with 
Captain Hunter's troop of Cavalry, moved off towards the same 
point. On Wednesday the requisition infantry from this county, 
amounting to one hundred men, accompanied by Colonel A. Rogers 
and Major Daniel L. Barringer, followed on. The Governor has 
ordered the greater part of the detachment of militia to the sev- 
eral sea-ports of this State; and, being almost destitute of muni- 
tions of war of every kind, he has ordered some of the United 
States ai'ms now lying at Wilmington, to be sent to Newbern, and 
has caused to be purchased and sent thither all the powder and 
lead that could be procured in Raleigh, Fayetteville, Hillsborough 
and other places. He has for the present given the command of 
Newbern and on the sea-coast to Major-General Calvin Jones, but 
intends to conduct the general operations of the forces of this 
State in person, and to front the enemy in battle. We learn that 
great activity prevails among the militia in the lower parts of the 
State; they are flocking in from all quarters to the standard of 
their beloved country. 

"Upon this occasion the ladies of Raleigh distinguished them- 
selves for that love of valor and zeal of patriotism which char- 
acterizes their sex. They not only surrendered their husbands 
and sons to the dubious fate of war and encouraged the glorious 
enterprise by incentive persuasion, but were actively employed in 
fitting their brethren for an hasty march. In a few hours they 
made one hundred knapsacks." 

While the more active citizen soldiery were hurrying 
to the sea-coast, a company of older men was organized 
in Raleigh for home defense. Colonel William Polk, who 
had valorously fought seven years for American inde- 
pendence in the Revolution, and had declined a Brigadier 
General's commission tendered him by President Madison 
on March 25, 1812, now took command of this "City 
Corps" as Captain; and three other leading citizens, 

14 



Judpre Henry Seawell, William Boylan, and William Peace 
were Lieutenants. 

General Jones arrived in New Bern on July 20th ; and, 
acting upon the authority conferred on him by Governor 
Hawkins, assumed the command of all the State troops 
mobilized in that vicinity. The Governor himself reached 
New Bern the next day. Fears being felt for the safety 
of Beaufort, a lar^e detachment was ordered to that town 
to garrison its fortifications, consisting of Fort Hamp- 
ton, Fort Lawrence, P'ort Gaston, and Fort Pigott. 

The British force landed at Ocracoke and Portsmouth 
on July 11th. It was a most formidable one, and was 
commanded by no less a personage than Admiral Cock- 
burn, who a year later was to play so conspicuous a part 
in the capture and destruction of our national capital. 
The fleet consisted of a seventy-four gun man-of-war, six 
frigates, two privateers, two schooners, and a consider- 
able number of smaller vessels, including sixty or seventy 
barges and tenders. The entire force was estimated to 
be from one to three thousand seamen, marines, and in- 
fantry. This force captured the American barge Ana- 
conda, of New York, the letter-of-marque schooner Atlas, 
of Philadelphia, and some smaller craft at Ocracoke, and 
pitched their tents on the beach. As soon as the fleet had 
been sighted, the collector of customs at Portsmouth, 
Thomas S. Singleton, packed his more important official 
records on board the revenue cutter Mercury, commanded 
by Captain David Wallace, and sent that vessel to give 
the alarm in New Bern, which (as was later learned) the 
British had intended to surprise and capture. Despite 
the superiority of their numbers, the enemy did not gain 
possession of Ocracoke and Portsmouth without resist- 
ance. Writing of the affair to Governor Hawkins in a 
letter dated July 24th, Collector Singleton said : 

"The Aiiaconda and Atlas commenced firing very spiritedly, 
though it was of short duration, for the former had but fifteen 
men on board and the latter but thirty. They were therefore com- 
pelled to submit to overwhelming numbers, as there could not have 
been less than three thousand men at that time inside the bar and 
crossing it together. The men abandoned the brig [the Anaconda'\ 
and schooner [the Atlas] and betook themselves to their boats, 
most of whom escaped. The Captain of the Atlas remained in her 
and continued to fire at the enemy after all his men had forsaken 
him. Several of the barges proceeded in pursuit of the cutter 
[the Mercury,] thinking (as they afterwards said) if they could 
have taken the cutter, they would have precluded the possibility 



15 



of information reaching Newbern until they arrived there them- 
selves. The cutter very narrowly escaped by crowding upon her 
every inch of canvas she had, and by cutting away her long boat. 
The Admiral did not hesitate to declare that it was his intention 
to have reached that place [New Bern] previous to the receiving 
any intelligence of his approach. After pursuing the cutter eight 
or ten miles through the sound, they gave out the chase and re- 
turned. Several hundred men were landed at Portsmouth and I 
presume as many on Ocracoke. Among those landed at Ports- 
mouth there were about three hundred regulars of the 102d regi- 
ment under the command of Colonel Napier, and about four hun- 
dred marines and sailors. They had several small field pieces in 
their launches, but did not land them, finding no necessity for 
them." 

Later on in the letter, just quoted, Mr. Singleton 
gives an account of numerous depredations and robberies 
committed by the invaders while on the North Carolina 
coast. They remained five days, and set sail on July 16th, 
without attempting to penetrate inland. Whether their 
departure was due to fear of the devious channels, which 
were so difficult to navigate, or whether they learned from 
the current North Carolina newspapers — of which they 
are known to have obtained a supply — what formidable 
measures were in preparation for their reception, will 
probably never be known. The fleet sailed southward, 
and it was consequently surmised that the Cape Fear 
section might be the next point of attack. Large num- 
bers of troops were therefore hurried to that locality, but 
the British never landed again in North Carolina at that 
time. They did, however, send a flag of truce back to 
Ocracoke, announcing that they had formally proclaimed 
a blockade of the coast of the State. 

Though not destined to have the opportunity of dis- 
playing their prowess in battle, no country ever had a 
more ready, vigilant and courageous class of citizen sol- 
diery than those who hurried to the defense of North 
Carolina during the Summer of 1813. Many county de- 
tachments, more than a hundred miles from the pros- 
pective seat of war, marched down to the coast as soon 
as they could be gotten under arms, while the county 
seats and "muster-grounds" of more westerly sections of 
the State were soon teeming with patriotic volunteers, 
ready and eager to aid in repelling the invaders of their 
country. 

In this campaign of 1813, Governor Hawkins re- 
mained on the sea-coast about a month, making personal 
inspection of the defenses from Ocracoke Inlet to New 

16 



Inlet, and returned to Raleigh on the IGth of Auprust. 
General Jones also returned when it appeared that 
there was no immediate likelihood of further trouble 
with the British in North Carolina. The RahujU R( (lis- 
ter, of September 3d, said that a rumor had gained cur- 
rency to the effect that a dispute had taken place between 
the Governor and General Jones, but the editor says : 
"We are authorized to state that the report is utterly des- 
titute of any foundation in truth." That no coolness ex- 
isted between these gentlemen is evidenced by the fact 
that, a few months later, when the General Assembly of 
North Carolina sent a complaint to the National Govern- 
ment of the neglect of the coast defenses of the State, 
Governor Hawkins designated General Jones for the duty 
of calling in person on President Madison and bringing 
this matter to his attention. The following item on that 
subject is from the Raleigh Register of December 3, 
18l'3 : 

"General Calvin Jones has been appointed by His Excellency 
the Governor to present the Address of the General Assembly, 
lately agreed to, to the President of the United States, and yes- 
terday set out on his journey." 

So far as I am able to learn the British never sent a 
formidable force against North Carolina after the year 
1813, though small marauding parties came by sea on 
more than one occasion. So free, indeed, was the State 
from local dangers that large numbers of her troops 
could be spared for service further northward, on the 
Canadian frontier; also nearer home, in Virginia, and 
against the hostile Creek Indians. 

Norfolk and its vicinity, in Virginia, being again 
threatened by the British, President Madison, on Sep- 
tember 6, 1814, made a requisition on Governor Hawkins 
for a large force to be detached from the militia of North 
Carolina and temporarily mustered into the service of 
the General Government. When it became known that 
this action would be taken. General Jones wrote the Gov- 
ernor, on July 31, 1814, asking for the command of that 
part of the militia which should be ordered to active ser- 
vice. This tender was not accepted. A little later, how- 
ever, on September 26, 1814, the Governor commissioned 
him Quartermaster General of the Detached Militia of 
North Carolina. In the letter accompanying this com- 
mission. General Jones was informed that fifteen com- 
panies (containing in the aggregate fifteen hundred 

17 



men) had been ordered to rendezvous at Gates Court 
House, under the command of Brigadier-General Jere- 
miah Slade, and to march thence to Norfolk. This com- 
mission was accepted by General Jones, who at once re- 
paired to the encampment at Gates Court House, arriv- 
ing- there on the 30th of September. On October 1st, he 
wrote from the camp to Governor Hawkins, saying: 
"About one-third of the troops are under the shelter of 
houses, piazzas, &c., in the village, the remainder being 
encamped in the woods and fields adjacent. Today a 
regular camp will be marked out, and brush defences 
against dews and slight rains will be raised." Later on 
he says, in the same letter : "Though the privations and 
exposures of the men, suddenly translated from ease and 
plenty to the face of a hastily formed camp, are consid- 
erable and must be felt, yet they have assumed so much 
of the soldier as to scorn complaint. The men are cheer- 
ful and generally healthy." He also said the troops would 
be marched in small detachments and by different routes, 
on account of the scarcity of water, and to ensure the ac- 
commodation of barracks. 

These troops were not armed until their arrival in 
Norfolk, where they were mustered into the service of 
the General Government. Writing from that city to 
Governor Hawkins, on October 8th, General Jones said: 

"I have the honor to inform you that four companies of our 
Detached Militia arrived yesterday and encamped at Mooring's 
Rope Walk, the best encampment for health and convenience, I 
think, about Norfolk. A bridge, which had been broken down, is 
rebuilding and unites the peninsular, on which the Rope Walk 
is, immediately with the tov/n. * * * 

"The appearance of our Militia, on their entrance into Nor- 
folk, was such as I think did them considerable credit. It was 
generally commended by the citizens and military here. My grati- 
fication would have been heightened could they have presented 
themselves armed. 

"I accompanied Generals Porter and Taylor today to Forts 
Norfolk and Nelson, and to Craney Island, and rode round the 
lines of defense on the land side. The strength of this place is 
very formidable, and is daily increasing. 

"I am at the point of setting out on my return home, and ex- 
pect to arrive at Gates Court House tomorrow." 

The early return of General Jones was due to the fact 
that his services as Quartermaster General were not 
needed after the North Carolina troops were mustered 
into the service of the General Government. 

18 



The North Carolina troops remained in and around 
Norfolk for many weeks, and were not entirely disbanded 
until after the return of peace. The treaty of peace was 
signed at Ghent on Christmas Eve, 1814, but news of 
that event did not reach Raleigh until February 18, 1815. 
It caused great rejoicing and was celebrated by religious 
services as well as public demonstrations. As is well 
known, the bloody battle of New Orleans was fought 
more than a fortnight after the treaty of peace was 
signed at Ghent, but long before news of it was received. 
The day on which the news of victory at New Orleans 
reached Raleigh was February 12, 1815. 

So eflicient had been the efforts of General Jones at 
the time of the British invasion of North Carolina in 
1813, that a strong effort was made by his friends to se- 
cure for him a commission as Colonel in the regular 
army. Senator Stone claimed that he had received a 
promise of it from the Secretary of War; and, in a letter 
to Jones, complained bitterly of the Secretary's failure to 
keep his word. 

His service with the North Carolina troops at Norfolk 
in the Fall of 1814 was the last active participation by 
General Jones in military affairs. Peace coming soon 
thereafter, he could now devote his talents to the more 
pleasing pursuits of a tranquil life. 

SERVICES TO MASONRY 

Possessed, as he was, of high educational attainments 
and fine sensibilities, Calvin Jones was not slow to ap- 
preciate the beautiful symbolical teachings of morality 
and charity embodied in the principles of Freemasonry, 
and he became an ardent devotee of that ancient frater- 
nity. 

The first Masonic organization which existed in 
Raleigh was Democratic Lodge, No. 21. A large portion 
of the membership of that Lodge having imbibed some of 
the evil principles of the French Revolution, then in prog- 
ress, it gradually fell into disfavor and finally passed out 
of existence. The city of Raleigh, however, did not long 
remain without a Lodge. On December 15, 1800, Grand 
Master William Polk issued a charter to Hiram Lodge, 
No. 40, theretofore operating under a dispensation from 
Grand ^Master William R. Davie. Calvin Jones be- 
came a member of Hiram Lodge shortly after its estab- 

19 



lishment, and was elected Worshipful Master on the 
Feast of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, 1805. He 
served in that capacity for one year. On December 11, 
1809, he was elected Junior Grand Warden of The Grand 
Lodge of North Carolina — or "The Grand Lodge of 
North Carolina and Tennessee," as it was called until 
1813, when Tennessee became a separate Grand Lodge. 
General Jones had served as Junior Grand Warden only 
one year, when he was advanced to the station of Senior 
Grand Warden, holding the latter position from Decem- 
ber 1, 1810, until December 8, 1817. On the latter date 
he became Grand Master of The Grand Lodge of North 
Carolina, succeeding the Honorable John Louis Taylor, 
who soon thereafter was to become first Chief Justice of 
the newly created Supreme Court. General Jones was 
three times elected Grand Master, his services as such 
ending on December 16, 1820. Few finer tributes to Ma- 
sonry can be found than the one contained in the official 
address of Grand Master Jones to the Grand Lodge in 
1819. In part he said : 

"The human family have enjoyed partial relief from the 
benign influence of our principles, without knowing the source of 
their blessings. The torch of science dissipates the darkness of 
one portion of the globe; in another, the fetters of slavery are 
broken; in one place, the infidel is converted; in another, the 
Christian is taught to feel the spirit of his religion; everywhere 
men begin to regard each other as members of the same family, 
and to place in the rank of duties the virtues of universal benevo- 
lence. Be it so. Under whatever denomination these happy ef- 
fects are produced, it is our duty to rejoice that some seeds, scat- 
tered by our Order, have fallen on good ground. Were the prin- 
ciples of Masonry unveiled to those worthy men who direct their 
efforts to a single object, which they pursvie with inadequate 
means, they would find how comprehensively beneficent are the 
principles of the Craft. To point out to man the duty of loving 
his brother, of assisting him in difficulty, of comforting him in 
afflictions, and to do all that these duties enjoin without regard 
to difference of nation, religion or politics; and further, to con- 
centrate the lessons of experience as to the most effectual mode of 
performing these duties, and by the aid of an universal language 
to make our designs equally intelligible to the inhabitants of every 
clime — to do these things is to go beyond the powers of any so- 
ciety, however intelligent and estimable, whether Peace, Anti- 
privateering, or Colonization. 

"Let us then. Brethren, pursue the noiseless tenor of our way, 
assisting every one engaged in the same cause, under whatever 
name or denomination known, according to the measure of his 
wants and our own ability, and be like the gentle but constant 
stream whose v/aters are concealed from the eye by the luxuriant 



20 



plants upon its niavfrin but whose effects are visible in the fer- 
tility it imparts to the various soils throuf^h which it meanders. 

"Let us improve in our minds a lively impression of the true 
principles of our association, remembering that religion and poli- 
tics are never to be subjects of discussion; that the reliprion of a 
Mason is love, veneration, and gratitude to the Supreme Architect 
of the Universe; that the doing good to all Ilis creatures, espe- 
cially to those of the 'household of faith,' is the most acceptable 
service and the first of duties; that the rights of conscience are 
inviolable, and that the Mussulman and the Christian, who love 
their brother and practice charity, are alike the friends of Ma- 
sonry and of man." 

In addition to the Masonic service.s in the ofTicial 
capacities heretofore enumerated. General Jones was a 
useful committee worker in the sessions of the Grand 
Lodtre. Togrether with John A. Cameron, Moses Morde- 
cai, William Boylan, and Alexander Lucas, he was ap- 
pointed on a Grand Lodge committee which was author- 
ized to co-operate with a similar committee from Hiram 
Lodge, No. 40, in erecting a Masonic Hall for the joint 
use of the two bodies on a lot which had been presented 
by a member of Hiram Lodge, Theophilus Hunter, the 
younger, and which lot stood on the northeast corner of 
Morgan and Dawson Streets. Half of the cost of build- 
ing was paid by the Grand Lodge and half by Hiram 
Lodge. The corner stone was laid by Grand Master 
Robert Williams on the Feast of St. John the Baptist, 
June 24, 18L3. This building served its purpose until 
some years after the War Between the States, and vener- 
able I\Iasons are still living in Raleigh who received their 
degrees within its walls. The corner stone itself was ex- 
humed by order of Hiram Lodge in I\Iarch, 1880, and is 
now preserved in the ante-room of the Grand Lodge Hall 
in the Masonic Temple at Raleigh. Unfortunately it is a 
solid block, having had no compartment for the records 
which are usually contained in a corner stone. The old 
inscription on it reads : 

The Grand Lodge of No. Carolina and 
Tennessee 

Hiram Lodge, No. 40, City of Raleigh 
June 24, A. L. 5813, A. D. 1813. R. Williams, G. I^L 

Grand Master Williams, who laid this corner stone, 
was at that time Adjutant-General of North Carolina, 
succeeding General Jones, as already mentioned. He 
came to Raleigh from Surry County, and should not be 

21 



confused with Dr. Robert Williams, of Pitt County, also 
a zealous Mason, who had formerly been a Surgeon in the 
Army of the Revolution. 

HOME AT WAKE FOREST AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES 

Owning a large number of slaves who could not be 
profitably employed within the limits of a town, General 
Jones determined to remove from Raleign and take up 
his abode in a rural neighborhood. North northwest of 
Raleigh, about sixteen miles, on the old stage road and 
mail route running northward via Oxford and Warren- 
ton, North Carolina, and Petersburg, Virginia, was a 
country neighborhood, of healthy altitude and fertile soil, 
known as the Wake Forest section. In that pleasant lo- 
cality, about the year 1820, General Jones took up his 
abode on a plantation of 615 acres, which he had pur- 
chased from Davis Battle. There, for about a decade, he 
kept open house to friends from far and near, in his "hos- 
pitable mansion," as Governor Swain describes it in his 
Tucker Hall address, referring to an occasion during his 
young manhood, in 1822, when he was nursed back to 
health within its walls, after a long and almost fatal at- 
tack of illness. Though not occupying its former loca- 
tion on the campus, the old home of General Jones is still 
standing and in a good state of preservation, being a sub- 
stantial structure built at a time when massive timbers, 
well seasoned, were in use. After having served as a 
residence for several members of the faculty in bygone 
years, it is now the home of a club of students. 

In the cause of public education, few more indefati- 
gable workers than General Jones could be found in 
North Carolina. For thirty years, from 1802 until his 
removal to Tennessee in 1832, he was a member of the 
Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina. 
That he was no figure-head the old records of that insti- 
tution fully attest. In the Raleigh Academy he also took 
a deep interest, and was a trustee of that school for some 
years. Dr. Battle, in his History of the University of 
North Carolina, gives an amusing extract from a letter 
written by General Jones in 1811, expressing great dis- 
satisfaction at an efi'ort then being made to have some 
students, who had been expelled from the University, ad- 
mitted into the Raleigh Academy. General Jones said 
he was greatly astonished that Governor Stone, one of 

22 



the trustees of the academy, should wish them admitted, 
but he was not at all surprised that the Governor should 
have been seconded in his efforts by another trustee, Mr. 
Sherwood Haywood, a "good, polite, clever, worthy man, 
who never contradicted anyone in his life." As Mr. Hay- 
wood was my grandfather, and as "to err is human," I 
am glad to know that the substance of his sinning was 
the fault ascribed to Sir Lucius OTrigger — "too civil, by 
half." 

For some years before Wake Forest College (first 
called Wake Forest Academy and later Wake Forest In- 
stitute) was established, there were several useful 
schools in the section of Wake County where the college 
now stands. One of these was Forest Hill Academy, in- 
corporated by Chapter 107 of the Laws of 1818; but, so 
far as we know. General Jones did not become connected 
with the governing body of that in.stitution after his re- 
moval to the neighborhood where it was located. In Jan- 
uary, 1823, Samuel Alston and Calvin Jones, members 
of the Board of Trustees, signed the announcement of 
the beginning of a session, on February 1st, of Wake 
Forest Academy, situated "fifteen miles north of 
Raleigh and within two miles of the Wake For- 
est Post Office, in one of the most pleasant, healthy, 
and reputable districts of our country." The 
teacher in charge of this school was James Pheelan. 
When General Jones first advertised his Wake Forest 
plantation for sale in 1827, he incidentally mentioned 
that there were three excellent schools (one classical) in 
the neighborhood. In the year following he gave notice 
of the opening of Wake Forest School, for both sexes, 
near his ovm residence. On June 26, 1831, he also an- 
nounced through the papers that the Wake Forest Female 
School would be opened on the third Monday of the en- 
suing month of July, with Mrs. Phillips as principal and 
two "competent young ladies" as assistants. Mrs. Phil- 
lips was a Northern lady, strongly recommended bj' 
Bishop Griswold. of Connecticut, and other well-known 
men. This academy for girls was operated in General 
Jones's residence, where both teachers and pupils were 
housed. In concluding the last mentioned announce- 
ment. General Jones said : "The pure air and water, 
healthfulness, and good society of this place are too well 
known to require mention. That the location of this 

23 



Seminary is in every respect proper may be inferred 
from the fact that Wake Forest has, for a number of 
years past, supported excellent and prosperous schools." 
In a sketch of General Jones in the "Benefactor's Num- 
ber" of the Wake Forest Student, January, 1911 (this be- 
ing a re-print of an earlier sketch), the late President 
Charles E. Taylor, of Wake Forest College, referring to 
this school for young ladies, says that an aged lady, who 
had been educated there, had stated to him that it was the 
custom of the Bishop of the Episcopal Church to make 
annual visitations there for the purpose of confirmation. 

Several years before and for some time after Gen- 
eral Jones sold his plantation at Wake Forest and re- 
moved therefrom, there was also located in that vicinity 
a school known as the Wake Forest Pleasant Grove 
Academy. Whether he ever had any connection with 
that institution does not appear. 

Having made large investments in land on the vast 
domain in West Tennessee which the Government had 
acquired from its Indian owners, and which was known 
as the "Chickasaw Purchase," General Jones decided to 
remove with his wife and family to that locality in order 
to protect his interests there. As he had no intention 
of returning to North Carolina, he decided to dispose of 
his Wake Forest plantation. As money in that day had 
a larger purchasing power than now, and land was not 
costly, the price for which he held the plantation — with 
its great house, cabins, and other out-houses — was only 
$2,500. About this time the North Carolina Baptist 
State Convention instructed a committee of its members 
to purchase a site for an institution of learning which 
that denomination had determined to build, and this com- 
mittee opened up negotiations with General Jones with a 
view to acquiring his plantation and equipment. De- 
scribing the transaction which followed, in an address 
at the semi-centennial of Wake Forest College, February 
4, 1884, the Reverend James S. Purefoy said : 

"Elder John Purefoy was one of the above committee, and a 
near neighbor of Dr. Calvin Jones, who owned the farm whei-e the 
college now stands. Dr. Jones held his fai-m of 615 acres at $2,- 
500; but, for the cause of education, he proposed to Elder Purefoy 
to give the Convention (through the committee) $500, and sell the 
farm for $2,000. Elder Purefoy recommended the farm to the 
committee, and it was purchased by the Convention for $2,000." 



24 



Tho committee which received the deed of transfer, 
August 28, 1832, from (leneral Jones, for the use of the 
Baptist State Convention, consisted of John Purefoy (or 
Purify, as it was then written), WiHiam H. Hinton, Si- 
mon G. Jeffreys, Jr., and James J. Hall. 

General Jones always showed a kindly interest in the 
welfare, both moral and physical, of his slaves. They 
were comfortably clad, well fed, and housed in such good 
quarters that their cabins were used as temporary dormi- 
tories for the students when Wake Forest Institute, the 
fore-runner of Wake Forest College, began operations. 
The first principal of Wake Forest Institute — also first 
president of Wake Forest College — was the Reverend 
Samuel Wait, who wrote the following interesting ac- 
count of the early days spent on the plantation which had 
been purchased from General Jones : 

"The former owner of the premises we now occupied had en- 
countered much expense to provide for the comfort of his ser- 
vants. I found seven good, substantial log cabins, made mostly 
of white oak, with hewn logs; good doors, floors, roofs, and, with 
one exception, windows. These were washed out cleanly and 
white-washed. Good, new furniture was provided for eacti house. 
And, although it was known that the cabins were built originally 
for servants, and occupied at first by them, I never heard of the 
least objection to them fi'om any student. * * * 

"The only place I could convene the students for morning and 
evening prayers, or lectures, was the building erected by Dr. 
Jones for a carriage house, 16 feet by 24 feet." 

From this small beginning of Wake Forest Institute 
(at first a manual training as well as classical school) 
has grown Wake Forest College, with its modern equip- 
ment, scholarly faculty, and fine student body — one of 
the most notable educational achievements of the Bap- 
tist Church in America. 

LIFE IN TENNESSEE, DOMESTIC AND RELIGIOUS RELATIONS, 
AND CONCLUSION 

It was about the year 1832 that General Jones re- 
moved with his family to Tennessee, though he had paid 
visits to that locality before. He owned about 30,000 
acres of land in that State. His home plantation in 
Hardeman County, near the town of Bolivar, contained 
2,500 acres. On the northern part of this tract he built 
a house, of moderate dimensions. To this he gave the 
name of Wake Park, in memory of the happy years he 
had spent in Wake County, North Carolina. A little 

25 



later, wishing to have more commodious quarters for his 
household, he removed two miles further south, on the 
same estate, to a point where he had erected a spacious 
mansion, which he called Pontine, this name probably be- 
ing derived from the Pontine Marshes, adjacent to the 
city of Rome. At Pontine the closing years of his life 
were spent, "retired from public employment, and enjoy- 
ing, with ample wealth around him, the otiimi cum dig- 
nitate of the typical Southern planter," to quote the lan- 
guage of his ardent admirer Judge Sneed. The site of 
Pontine is now owned by the State of Tennessee, being 
occupied by the Western Hospital of the Insane. It was 
purchased by the State from Colonel Paul Tudor Jones, 
younger son of the General. It is a remarkable circum- 
stance, commented upon by President Taylor, of Wake 
Forest, in the sketch already quoted, that each of the two 
country estates occupied by General Jones in North Car- 
olina and Tennessee is now occupied by a vast institu- 
tion — one for the education of youth at Wake Forest; 
and the other, near Bolivar, as a home and hospital for 
the mentally afflicted. 

While a practicing physician in Raleigh, Dr. Jones 
had become engaged to be married to Ruina J. Williams, 
a young woman of rare loveliness, who was the daughter 
of Major William Williams, of "The Forks," in Franklin 
County, not far from the county of Warren. Before the 
union could be consummated, however, she fell a victim 
to consumption, passing away on the 20th of September, 
1809, in the twenty-first year of her age. The beautiful 
faith and fortitude displayed in her last illness formed 
the subject of a small brochure entitled The Potver and 
Excellence of Religion, written by the Reverend Joel 
Rivers, and published by the Tract Society of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. Nearly ten years later, on April 
15, 1819, when forty-four years of age. Dr. Jones mar- 
ried the widowed sister of Miss Williams. This was Mrs. 
Temperance Boddie Jones, nee Williams, widow of Dr. 
Thomas C. Jones, of Warrenton. This lady, by her first 
marriage, was the mother of Thomas C. Jones, who was 
born in 1811 and died in Corinth, Mississippi, in 1893. 
The children of her marriage to General Calvin Jones 
were (in addition to several who died young) three in 
number, as follows : 

I. Montezuma Jones, born in 1822, at Wake Forest, 

26 



who married Elizabeth Wood, and died near BoHvar in 
1914. loavinp: issue. 

II. Oclavia Rowena Jones, born in 1826, at Wake For- 
est, who married Edwin Polk, of Bolivar, and died in 
1917. leaving issue. 

III. Paul Tudor Jones, born in 1828, at Wake Forest, 
who married (first) Jane M. Wood, and (second) Mary 
Kirkman ; and died in Corinth, Mississippi, in 1904, leav- 
ing issue by both marriages. 

General Calvin Jones had a younger brother, Atlas 
Jones, who was a graduate of the University of North 
Carolina in the class of 1804, was afterwards tutor of 
Ancient Languages at the same institution, and a Trustee 
from 1809 until 1825. He became a lawyer and prac- 
ticed at Carthage, in Moore County, North Carolina, 
where he married Rebecca Street. He also lived for a 
while in Raleigh. He removed to Tennessee about the 
year 1825, and settled at Jackson, in that State. After 
his will was recorded in Tennessee, it was sent to Raleigh 
and again recorded, as he owned real estate in the latter 
city. In this will, his brother, Calvin Jones, and nephew, 
Montezuma Jones, are named as executors. In his excel- 
lent History of the University of North Carolina, Dr. 
Battle is in error when he states that Atlas Jones was a 
son of Edmund Jones, one of the early benefactors of the 
University. General Calvin Jones also had a sister, Mrs. 
Higbee, who lived in Raleigh for a while, and kept house 
for him there before his marriage. 

One distinguished Tennessean, Judge Calvin Jones, 
of Somerville (a graduate of the University of North 
Carolina in the class of 1832), though he bore the same 
name as General Calvin Jones, was not related to him. 
He was, however, his namesake — both families remov- 
ing to Tennessee from North Carolina, where they had 
been friends. 

Though never an ofRce-seeker, either in North Caro- 
lina or Tennessee, General Jones took a commendable in- 
terest in politics. In his younger days he was a Federal- 
ist. After that party passed out of existence, and the 
Whigs and Democrats became contestants for the mas- 
tery of the Government, he alligned himself with the 
Whigs. He was one of the vice-presidents of the Na- 



27 



tional Whig Convention at Baltimore in 1844, which 
nominated Henry Clay for President. 

After the adjournment of the convention last men- 
tioned, General Jones made an extensive tour of Europe, 
being accompanied by his daughter. At that time he was 
nearing his three score years and ten, but still active and 
in good health. 

In the final degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, the 
newly made Brother is exhorted so to live that in old age 
he "may enjoy the happy reflections consequent on a well- 
spent life, and die in the hope of a glorious immortality." 
The life of Past Grand Master Jones was a triumphant 
fulfilment of this precept. With the serene faith and 
humble hope of a Christian, amid the beautiful surround- 
ings of his estate at Pontine, near Bolivar, he peacefully 
came to the end of his earthly pilgrimage on the 20th day 
of September, 1846. A notice of him, published in the 
Somerville Herald, and later copied in the Raleigh Regis- 
ter, of October 16th, was as follows : 

"Died. — At his residence near Bolivar, in Hardeman County, 
on the 20th instant. General Calvin Jones, in the 73rd year of his 
age. General Jones was a native of Connecticut, where he was 
educated. He removed in early life to Raleigh, North Carolina, 
where he established a high reputation for honor and probity, and 
was successful in winning the approbation of his fellow men in 
the pursuits of life. He emigrated to Hardeman County fourteen 
years since. In the region of the country in which he spent his 
ripe old age, he was regarded by all as a pious Christian, a gen- 
tleman in his deportment, full of the 'milk of human kindness' and 
a most valuable citizen. He sustained all the relations of life in 
the most unexceptionable manner; and, though he had reached to 
that period of life of man when its end must hourly be anticipated, 
such were the consecrated ties of friendship and love which bound 
him to the hearts of his family and the circle of his acquaintances 
that none were prepared to surrender so rich a gem to the remorse- 
less grave — they mourn for him as for the loss of their hearts' 
chief jewel; and in their sorrow the whole community sympathize." 

Though General Jones may have been educated in 
Connecticut, as stated in the notice just quoted, he was 
not a native of that State. As heretofore noted, he was 
born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His birthplace, 
however, is not many miles from the Connecticut boun- 
dary. 

Many years after the death of General Jones, the 
State of Tennessee (as already mentioned) acquired 
by purchase his former plantation near Bolivar, and 
erected thereon the Western Hospital for the Insane. 



This institution was formally opened in July, 1890, when 
several addresses were delivered — one by the Honorable 
John Louis Taylor Sneed, formerly a Judj,'e of the Ten- 
nessee Supreme Court.* Judpe Sneed was a native 
North Carolinian, born in Raleijrh. lie was a son of 
Major Junius Sneed, who (as we have already seen) was 
one of the aides-de-camp of General Jones when the Brit- 
ish landed in North Carolina in 1813. Judge Sneed was 
also maternally a grandson, as well as a namesake, of 
Chief Justice John Louis Taylor, of the North Carolina 
Supreme Court, who was the immediate predecessor of 
General Jones as Grand IMaster of the Masonic Grand 
Lodge of North Carolina. In the course of his remarks, 
Judge Sneed said : 

"In conclusion, fellow-citizens of Hardeman, allow me to in- 
dulge in a reminiscence of the long ago, which you, at least, will 
appreciate. * * * Yonder stood a cottage which was the 
abiding place of hospitality, charity, and all tiie golden virtues 
which decorate the higher Christian life. It was the home of filial 
affection and parental tenderness, the common resort of the most 
elegant and cultured society, a place from which no poor man was 
ever turned comfortless away — the happy homestead of a happy 
household. The grand old master of that household has long since 
passed over the river, and his gentle and loving wife now sleeps 
by his side. In life both were loved and honored for all the graces 
that adorn human character and win human respect and admira- 
tion. In death, both are remembered by the rich and poor as ex- 
amples of all that was noble, philosophic, gentle, and humane. 

* m * 

"I was for a long period of my student life an inmate of that 
cottage and treated as one of the children of the family. A thou- 
sand years of life's changes and revolutions could never efface the 
impressions I then received of the moral and intellectual character 
of the grand old man. He had been a deep student of science, his- 
tory and philosophy. His mind was a treasure house of knowledge, 
gathered from books, from foreign travel, and from his close fel- 
lowship with the gi*eat men and statesmen of the country. And 
yet, with a splendid capacity for the higher achievements of state- 
craft, he cared nothing for the tinsel of rank or the prestige of 
office, but preferred in his late years to tarry beneath his own 
happy roof-tree and to watch the development of his children; to 
educate them in virtuous principles; to do his duty well as a neigh- 
bor, a friend, a philanthropist, and to enjoy through the lengthen- 
ing shadows of a useful life the sweet companionship of his loving 
wife. * * * 

"He was my Gamaliel, my oracle, from whom any docile youth 
could learn 'the wisdom of the wise, the strength that nerves the 
strong, and the grace that gathers around the noble.' In broad 



•For sketch and portrait of Judge Sneed, S(0 Urocn n.ig ningazino (Dot- 
ton) May, 1893, page 233. 

29 



philanthropy and charity, in learning and culture, I thought him 
the greatest man I ever saw; and, in Roman virtue, severity of 
morals, and dignity of character, the most august and admirable. 
"I particularly remember his tender sympathies for that un- 
fortunate class whose reasons were overthrown, and his theories 
upon the treatment of mental diseases. And now, as I look upon 
the splendid pile which has taken the place of that happy home- 
stead and reflect upon the noble and Christly purposes to which it 
is today dedicated, I can but think if that grand old man, with all 
his tender solicitude for a better and holier treatment of the mind 
diseased, could revisit the ground on which his happy homestead 
stood and see the changes for himself, he would rejoice that things 
are just as they are. All honor to the memory of General Calvin 
Jones!" 

The beautiful address by Judge Sneed, just quoted, 
first appeared in the Evening Democrat, of Memphis. 
For a copy I am indebted to the sketch in the Wake For- 
est Student, by President Taylor, to which allusion has 
already been made. 

General Jones was a deeply religious man and a com- 
municant in the Episcopal Church. During the time he 
resided in Raleigh, there was no house of worship owned 
by his Church, the parish of Christ Church not being or- 
ganized until August 21, 1821. He was similarly sit- 
uated at Wake Forest. On April 17, 1834, not long after 
his arrival in Tennessee, he was one of the founders of 
the parish of St. James, in Bolivar, an organization hav- 
ing for its first rector the Reverend Daniel Stephens, and 
formed during the Episcopate of Bishop Otey, a disciple 
of the great Bishop Ravenscroft, of North Carolina. Two 
of the clerical friends of General Jones, Bishops Otey 
and Green (the latter elevated to the Episcopate after 
the General's death), had both been students and later 
tutors at the University of North Carolina when Jones 
was a trustee. General Jones enjoyed the companionship 
of thoughtful clergymen of all creeds. In addition to as- 
sociation with such leaders of his own Church as Bishops 
Ravenscroft, Otey, Polk, and Green, he had been one of 
the many Episcopalians, in the early days of Raleigh, 
forming a part of the congregation of the scholarly "pas- 
tor of the city," the Reverend William McPheeters, of the 
Presbyterian Church. A strong friendship also sprang 
up between himself and Elder John Purify, a forceful 
leader of the Baptists of North Carolina. As heretofore 
mentioned. General Jones and Elder Purify were resi- 
dents of the same country neighborhood in the north- 



30 



eastern section of Wake County, where Wake Forest Col- 
lege was later established. 

General Jones was a man of striking appearance. He 
was 5 feet 10' o inches in height, deep-chested, and 
weighed about 240 pounds. His eyes bore a kindly ex- 
pression and were hazel in color, his hair was brown, his 
forehead high, his nose slightly Grecian, and his mouth 
clearly portrayed the firmness and decision which 
marked his character through life. Viewed from any 
standpoint, he was a strong man — strong morally, men- 
tally, and physically. Three portraits of him are now 
in Wake County: one in the Grand Lodge Hall, and one 
in the oflice of the Adjutant General, at Raleigh; and 
one at Wake Forest — the last mentioned having been 
presented to the college by Wake Forest Lodge, now No. 
282 but originally No. 97. 



I have now told what I have been able to learn of the 
upright life and honorable career of Calvin Jones. His 
memory, it is true, does not stand broadly emblazoned on 
history's page as : 

"One of the few, the immortal names, 
That were not born to die" — 

but we do no violence to truth in portraying him as a con- 
sistent Christian, a vigilant patriot, an accomplished 
physician, a versatile scholar, a loyal Mason, and a hos- 
pitable gentleman, well worthy to be classed "among 
those choicest spirits who, holding their consciences un- 
mixed with blame, have been in all conjunctures true to 
themselves, their country, and their God." 



31 



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